Spirit Hall Academy's Main Team Members

Behind the wolf pack, several figures heard the distant howls and assumed their plan had succeeded. Sneers appeared on all their faces.

But the next second, they could no longer smile. Their expressions froze as the Nether Wolves scattered and swiftly surrounded them. The wolves' eyes were filled with undisguised malice. Suppressed by Jin Yan's martial soul pressure, the pack was already brimming with fury, and these people had become the perfect targets for venting it.

Standing on a tree branch, Jin Yan watched the group below being hunted by the Nether Wolves, and his heart practically burst with delight.

Still, these people did have some strength.

This was a small group of nine. Four of them had actually reached the Soul Grandmaster realm, while the weakest of the rest was already level sixteen. They even had support, assault, agility, and defense-type Soul Masters among them. Their coordination left something to be desired, but relying on their numerical advantage, they could still handle these few Nether Wolves.

Seeing this, Jin Yan knew he could not delay any longer. Just as he was about to leap down and end the battle, someone else acted even faster than he did.

As the forest shook, four figures emerged from the undergrowth.

Seeing people surrounded by Nether Wolves, the four instinctively wanted to help. But after noticing that those people were handling themselves with ease, they changed targets and charged toward the group instead.

Their reasoning was simple. Although they were not weak, if they helped drive away the Nether Wolves, those people might turn on them and seize their identity tokens.

Jin Yan watched everything from the tree branch. When he saw the martial souls of those four, he was slightly taken aback.

"Golden Waist Swallow, Circular Giant Blade, Black Horned Mountain Boar, Bright Gold Scepter... These are the core members of Spirit Hall Academy's team two cohorts from now. Do they already know each other?"

Jin Yan had not forgotten why he had entered Spirit Hall Academy. However, the fourth-year students in his grade were not particularly outstanding. Only the few who had broken through to Soul Grandmaster interested him enough for him to get acquainted with them and occasionally gather together. Still, he rarely appeared with them, leading the academy to believe that he was solitary and preferred to be alone.

"Perhaps I can recruit them into my team."

Watching their performance now, Jin Yan could not help entertaining the thought of recruiting them, especially the support-type Soul Master with the Bright Gold Scepter martial soul.

This kind of top-tier support martial soul might not match the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda in the early stages, but it did not have so many restrictions. If he could break through to the Titled Douluo realm, his support abilities would be far stronger than those of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda!

Moreover, for them to join Spirit Hall's main battle team a few years later, talent and strength were both indispensable. The four of them were already Soul Grandmasters above level twenty. Even Xu Yu, a support-type Soul Master, whose cultivation speed was supposedly the slowest, had already reached Soul Power Level twenty-four!

Nine years later, during that Soul Master Tournament, their strengths would all surpass level forty-six. That was already the talent level of heirs to many major powers. Back then, Yu Tianheng, captain of Heaven Dou Royal Academy, had only been level forty-three. Their talent was obvious from this. (Perhaps Li Kai and the others had been older at the time, so their ages were adjusted here.)

"Their coordination is already taking shape." Watching the four, Jin Yan spoke with some surprise.

From Jin Yan's position, he could take in almost the entire battlefield at a glance.

The four had the Soul Master with the Circular Giant Blade take the lead in attacking, while the female Soul Master with the Golden Waist Swallow harassed their enemies from the air and helped fend off the Nether Wolves' assaults.

Meanwhile, Li Kai summoned his Black Horned Mountain Boar martial soul and guarded Xu Yu at all times, occasionally charging forward with Boar Rush.

With their precise coordination, the four of them had actually held the opposing nine in place and forced them into a hard battle.

Even Jin Yan's eyes lit up at such a performance. After all, the nine opponents included four Soul Grandmasters and five Soul Scholars. The four had managed to restrain them, and although the Nether Wolves were harassing them from the side, it still showed just how exquisite their teamwork was.

At that moment, Jin Yan's desire to recruit them grew even stronger.

But recruitment was recruitment; he could not forget the real business at hand.

Having watched enough of the show, Jin Yan stretched and rose from the branch. With a flying leap, he rushed toward the battlefield. His martial soul had already been released midair. The massive Golden Dragon Crocodile let out a thunderous roar, and the spreading golden light terrified the lingering Nether Wolves into fleeing at once.

Li Kai and Zhang Ping's expressions changed drastically. As possessors of beast martial souls, they understood this pressure better than anyone. This was not suppression brought about by Soul Power Level, but the absolute crushing force of a superior martial soul against inferior ones!

Jin Yan arrived at the center of the battlefield, the token tied around his waist clattering. He looked at the nine people who had initially targeted him and extended his hand. "Now, hand over your tokens obediently."

"Pah! Who do you think you are? You want us to hand over our tokens? No way!" The strongest among the nine spoke up. His clothes had been torn to shreds, most of them claw marks left by the Nether Wolves. Even so, he still looked at Jin Yan with an arrogant expression.

"Since that's the case..." Before he finished speaking, Jin Yan's figure suddenly vanished. When he reappeared, he was already behind the speaker. Without releasing a Soul Ring, he swung his dragon claw and sent the Soul Master flying, a trace of blood spilling from the man's mouth. Out of consideration that they were all from Spirit Hall, Jin Yan had not struck too heavily.

Seeing their leader injured, the remaining people all charged at Jin Yan. There was almost no coordination to their attack; even their support-type Soul Master rushed forward with them.

Jin Yan had no interest in such a ragtag group. In just a few moves, he knocked them all to the ground, removed their tokens, and watched them leave.

After dealing with all of them, a smile flashed across Jin Yan's face. In a flicker, he appeared on the only path the other four had to take. Turning to face the four who were trying to sneak away, Jin Yan's voice carried a hint of teasing. "Gentlemen, aren't you planning to stay and be my guests?"

Among them, the most honest and straightforward, Li Kai, hurriedly said, "Well, brother, we were just passing by. We probably shouldn't stay."

By the end, there was even a hint of pleading in his tone.

Jin Yan found his manner amusing. He did not beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

"Li Kai, Sun Chuantao, Zhang Ping, Xu Yu, I know all of you.

My name is Jin Yan. My martial soul is the Golden Dragon Crocodile, and I am a level twenty-four assault-type Battle Soul Grandmaster.

I want to build a Soul Master team of my own, and I sincerely invite you to join."

Hearing this, Li Kai and Zhang Ping showed interested expressions. Both possessed beast martial souls, and they had felt most directly the pressure released by Jin Yan's martial soul earlier. Though they had never seen the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, they were certain that even its pressure could not impose such heavy suppression on their martial souls.

For that instant, they had both felt as if their martial souls were about to be forcibly suppressed back into their bodies!